Track-brake



(No Model.) 2 Sheets-Sheet; 1. LKNEEDLR & B, VORPE.

TRACK BRAKE.

Patented Mar. 17, 1896.

Y 2 Sheets-Sheet 2. L. KNEEDLER 8u E. VORPE. TRACK BRAKE.

Patented Mar. 17, 1896.

(No Model.)

Zaal/650266256X UNITED STATES PATENT Erica LOUIS KNEEDLER, F CALEDONIA, AND EUGENE VORPE, OF MOUNT AYR, IOVA.

BRAKE.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 556,723, dated March 1'?, 1896.

Application filed May 21, 1895.

To [all whom, it 12m/y concern:

Be it known that we, Louis KNEEDLER, residing at Caledonia, and EUGENE YORPE, residing at Mount Ayr, in the county of Ringgold and State of Iowa. citizens of the United States, have invented a new and useful Track-Brake, of which the following is a specification.

The invention relates to improvements in track-brakes for railway and other cars.

The object of the present invention is to improve the construction of track-brakes and to provide a simple, inexpensive, and efficient one, capable of being readily mounted on a car-truck and oi:l being connected Awith the ordinary brake-operating mechanism and adapted to be quickly brought into operative position and to check and stop a train in a short interval of time.

rPhe invention consists in the construction and novel combination and arrangement of parts hereinafter fully described, illustrated in the accompanying drawings, and pointed out in the claims hereto appended.

ln the drawings, Figure 1 is a longitudinal sectional view of one end of a car provided with a track-brake constructed in accordance with this invent-ion. Fig. 2 is a reverse plan view of the same. Fig. 3 is a transverse sec tional View. Fig. l is a detail perspective view of the brake-lever. Fig. 5 is a similar view of one of the brake-shoes. Fig. 6 is a detail vie-w of one of the sockets of the shanks ot the brake-shoes- Like numerals of reference indicate corresponding parts in all the figures of the draw ings.

1 1 designate a pair of similar brake-shoes disposed horizontally and located centrally ot a truck between the wheels thereoi` and adapted to be .moved vertically and to be carried downward into engagement with the rails to stop a car or train of cars, and thereby avoid the wear and injury resulting from brake-shoes being applied to the wheels of a ear. The brake-slices are provided at their inner sides with flanges 2 to prevent them from leaving the rails, and they are mounted on vertically movable bars or shanks 3, mounted in vertical sockets i, which are se Serial No. 550,111. (No model cured to the transom 5 of a ear-truck G, orto any other suitable portion thereof.

The Shanks or bars 3 are rectangular in cross-section, and the openings of the sockets t are of like configuration, and the socketsei are provided with vertical slots 7, receiving crank-arms 8 ot' a lever-frame il, on which the brake-shoes are operated.

The lever-frame is composed oi' two converging` sides or bars 10, each provided at one end with a crank-bend, which is journaled in a bearing ll, and which extends through the adjacent slot 7 and tits in an opening of the adjacent shank or bar f3, whereby the latter is connected with the lever-frame.

The lever-frame is supported by a triangular brace 12, having its bottom or base interposed between the divergent orseparated portions of the sides 10 of the lever-frame and connected at its top or apex with the adjacent ends of the sides of the levenframe by a bar l This construction forms a powerful leverframe, and the latter is adapted to raise and lower the brakeshoes simultaneously, and

the brakeshoes, being centrally disposed be-I neath the truck over the rails, are adapted to litt the car, so that the entire weight of the latter will be utilized for stopping it.

The lever-frame is adapted to be operated by hand by means of the ordinary construction of brake-shaft 14, having a hand-wheel, and mounted on the car l5, and conncctedby a chain 1G with rod connections i7, the chain i6 being adapted to be wound around the shaft in the usual manner. The inner terminal of the rod connections l? is designed to be connected by a chain 1S with the brake mechanism at the other end of the ear, and the chain 1S of the truck G passes over apulley 19 and is connected to the upper or outer end of thelever-frame. The lever-frame may also be attached to any suitable air-brake connections, so that the brake may be applied either by hand or by compressed air or the like.

It will be seen that the brake is exceedingly simple and inexpensive in construction, that it is adapted to be readily mounted on the ordinary construction of car-trucks, and that it possesses great power, as the entire weight IOO of a car may be utilized in the application of the brake.

It Will also be seen that the brake-shoes will not leave the rails, and that by operating on the latter instead of the wheels of a car all the injurious eiects incident to car-Wheel brakes are obviated.

Changes in the form, proportion, and tlie minor details of construction maybe resorted to Without departing from the principle or sacrificing any of the advantages of this invention.

IV hat We claim isl. In a track-brake, the combination of a truck, sockets mounted on the truck and iocated at opposite sides thereof and provided with vertical openings and having slots conimunieating with the openings, brake-shoes provided With bars or slianks arranged in the openings of the sockets, a lever-frame journaled on the truck and provided at opposite sides with crank-arms extending through the slots of the sockets and connected with tlic shanks of the brake-shoes, means for operating the lever frame, substantially as described.

2. In a track-brake, the combination of a truck, vertically-movable brake-slices, and a lever-frame journaled on the truck and conipostd of divergent sides having crank-arms connected with the brake-shoes, a triangular brace extending upward from and interposed between the divergent ends of the sides of the frame, and a bar extending from the top or apex of the triangular brace to the adjacent ends of the sides of the frame, substantially as described.

In testimony that We claim the foregoing as our own We have hereto affixed our signatures in the presence of two Witnesses.

LOUIS KNEEDLER. EUGENE VORPE. T.Vitnesses F. F. FULLER7 I. IV. KELLER. 

